


Anniversary

by Shiisiln



Category: Pocket Monsters | Pokemon - All Media Types, Pocket Monsters: X & Y | Pokemon X & Y Versions
Genre: Implied/Referenced Character Death, M/M, Other, implied past perfectworldshipping
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-07-03
Updated: 2015-07-03
Packaged: 2018-04-07 10:33:14
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 760
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4260030
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Shiisiln/pseuds/Shiisiln
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>One year later, Augustine remembers.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Anniversary

Of all the ways to wake up in the world, being smothered by a heavy, sweaty mass of fur isn't one of the better options.

Augustine flailed and struggled, shoving at the weight trapping him on the bed. Finally, he managed to get his head free, and gasped in a few sweet breaths. “Vulcan,” he growled at the pokemon which had so rudely awoken him.

A large, maned head turned, and two sharp amber eyes stared at him reproachfully, as though it was his fault for occupying the place that the massive Pyroar wanted to sit.

Augustine sighed. “Please, mon cher. I need to breathe.”

Slowly, reluctantly, Vulcan got up, walked in a circle, and curled up right next to Augustine, watching him.

The professor sat up, blinking and spitting out tufts of fur. He glanced up at his clock and groaned. “Why did you feel the need to wake me up two hours before my alarm?” he asked the lounging Pyroar.

Vulcan twitched his tail.

Augustine rubbed his eyes. “Well, I'm up now. May as well get an early start on that labwork.”

~

A shower, a light breakfast and several coffees later, Augustine was feeling a little more human. Before the labwork, there was paperwork to do and e-mails to send, so 7:00 found him seated in front of his computer, typing away.

He almost jumped out of his skin when something hit his back and a pair of giant paws wrapped around his chest. He shrieked and flailed, but quieted when he realized that it was just Vulcan again.

“You ridiculous creature!” He scolded. “You could have given me a heart attack!”

Vulcan licked him in response, and Augustine couldn't help but laugh. “Alright, alright, I'll pet you, just for a little while. But I really must work today,” he said, scritching him under the chin.

The Pyroar made that rumbly growl-purr noise he always made when he was happy, his eyes drifting shut and his paws starting to knead into Augustine's chest.

“Ah! Claws, _claws!_ ”

~

The final straw came when Augustine rounded a corner in the lab and tripped over Vulcan's back, spilling hot coffee all over himself.

“Alright, that's it!” he shouted. “You get out of the lab and think about what you've done.”

He pointed sharply, and Vulcan put his ears back and trotted sullenly off towards Augustine's quarters, where his pokemon were technically supposed to stay.

Once he'd calmed down, changed his shirt and gotten himself a fresh cup of coffee, Augustine felt bad about shouting at the Pyroar. Vulcan hadn't done anything wrong, really; he was just being unusually clingy today.

Very unusually clingy, come to think of it. Vulcan was normally aloof, rarely accepting affection and hardly ever asking for it outright. Was something wrong?

Worried, Augustine abandoned his labwork and walked back into his quarters. Topiary, his Furfrou, greeted him as he walked through the door, and Augustine scratched her head in passing.

He found Vulcan back in the bedroom, sitting in front of a chest of drawers. His nose was pointed right at the top drawer, his amber eyes fixed on the brass handle.

All at once, Augustine realized what was wrong. A lump formed in his throat and, swallowing hard, he walked forward.

He stroked through the Pyroar's luxurious mane, his fingertips running over the knotted scars that were hidden in his dense fur- all except one, a long pink line that ran from his temple down to the bridge of his nose.

“It's today, isn't it?” He murmured. Vulcan rumbled, blinking slowly.

Augustine opened the drawer and reached inside with shaking hands. He pulled out the only item inside, and held it out at arms length.

It was a jacket. The sleek black fabric was charred and mangled and all but falling apart, and the white ruff around the collar was stained a dark, brownish grey from soot and dirt.

Vulcan sat up and rubbed against the garment, rumbling and blinking, acting like a kitten seeking comfort from its mother.

Augustine felt tears gather in his eyes. “It was a year ago today,” he murmured. “I-I don't know how I forgot.”

He sank to the floor, clutching the ruined jacket to his chest. Vulcan curled up around him, a warm, soft presence. He stared at the gently weeping human, and while he shed no tears, his eyes carried a great sadness in them.

Augustine wrapped an arm around his neck, burying his face in the Pyroar's mane. “I know. I know, sweet one. I miss him too.”

**Author's Note:**

> Oops I made myself sad
> 
> Vaguely based off this comic from tumblr; http://doodlesofthesexytype.tumblr.com/post/76507842847/what-if-lysandres-pokemon-servived-the-explosion
> 
> (I get all my best ideas by ripping off other artists. Well, I suppose that's why I'm writing fanfic in the first place, actually.)


End file.
